Bushmeat Ban Not the Answer

Sept. 16, 2008 -- The hunting of wild animals poses a threat to species' survival in many parts of the world, but an all-out ban on bushmeat hunting is not the right solution, according to a new report, because many people depend on such animals as their major source of protein.

Without regulations for sustainable hunting, many Central African forest mammals could be extinct within 50 years, the report said.

"This has previously been framed as a conservation crisis, and this report supports that, with local extirpation of species happening now and extinction on the horizon," said Frances Seymour, Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research, the lead organization that authored the report. "But what it does is broaden the framing, which is that this is a livelihood crisis with food security. A lot of rural communities get a lot of their protein from bushmeat," Seymour added. Up to 80 percent of the protein in diets in Central Africa, for instance, is from bushmeat.

Because there is nowhere else for people to turn for protein, and because of poor enforcement, bushmeat hunting has continued in many parts of the world, despite regulations that make most of the hunting illegal.

"We need to find solutions that are tailored to specific circumstances of livelihood and place," Seymour said.

Gorillas, for instance, reproduce very slowly, and move in groups so they are easy to target. For such species tight controls or bans on hunting are appropriate, Seymour said. But small, deer-like animals or rodents are essentially agricultural pests and can withstand higher hunting pressures, according to the report. Hunting regulations should take into account such differences, Seymour said.

"Of course, if you are in charge in a country of regulating wildlife, it's always easier to decide, 'Lets stop hunting,' because everyone who is hunting is doing something illegal," said Jean-Christophe Vié, of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, in Gland, Switzerland. "When you have to put in place mechanisms where you have to differentiate, that becomes a little bit tricky."